Just friends
by JosephPotter
Summary: Ginny is having a bad week and finds friendship in the last place she expected. Of course, she and Harry are just friends though. But are they?
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: These characters are not mine, they belong to J.K. Rowling, there is no monetary profit being made off of this story.  
  
Ginny Weasley was furious. This had been a terrible day in a long string of terrible days, getting progressively worse. It was a domino effect of trouble and Ginny had fallen into about every problem possible. There hadn't been anything in particular that had started Ginny's downward slide, bad things had just started happening.  
  
The first notable bad thing had been two weeks before, when she had forgotten to write an entire five page essay in Herbology about the relations and uses of the Dalmogian Fillud, a plant Ginny knew nothing about, even though they had studied it practically all week. Ginny had received a zero for the grade. The next real blow had come a week after, while practicing on the Quidditch field, trying to hone her skills. Her friend Hermione had called to her and she had turned to wave, but a nearby bludger caught up to her, toppling her off her broom. It hadn't been that high of a drop, but Ginny broke both her right arm and elbow, and the bludger had knocked her in the head, leaving her unconscious.  
  
Ginny realized that she was now crying a little as she thought of these terrible things. "Great, now I look like a little weepy baby," Ginny sniffed, and then rubbed her eyes, trying to look sleepy rather than emotionally upset. Then she saw the last possible person that she wanted to see, the last possible person who could humiliate her: Harry Potter.  
  
Harry saw Ginny sitting alone and waved to her. She tried to wave back and hide her tears at the same time. Harry gave a concerned look and walked over to her. "Hey Gin, what's wrong?" he asked as he plopped down next to her on the Gryffindor common room's couch.  
  
"Nothing," Ginny sniffed, wiping her eyes and turning away from him. Harry gave a short laugh. "What exactly is so funny?" she burst out, swerving back towards him. "Do you really think it's funny that someone is upset and is crying? Because if so, I'm right here, laugh away," she cried bitterly.  
  
"I wasn't laughing because you're upset Ginny, I was laughing because you are the most terrible liar on the planet," Harry replied. This however was not on Ginny's list of things she wanted to hear either, and she began to cry harder. "Oh come on Ginny, I was only joking," he tried to comfort her. "Just tell me what's wrong."  
  
Ginny looked up, still angry. "You don't really want to hear me rant about my terrible life, you are only over here because you're just trying to give me sympathy," she retorted.  
  
Harry sighed. "That's not true and you know it Gin. Now tell Dr. Potter what's been bothering you." Ginny grunted in response. "It couldn't hurt, now could it?" he asked.  
  
Ginny nodded. "I suppose not," she mumbled. "Okay, fine, but I warned you first," she pointed her finger in his face. "Well, first of all I'm failing almost all my classes. I can't concentrate on anything and I keep forgetting to do my assignments. Today in potions I wasn't paying attention and I added a couple wrong ingredients and ended up sending a whole bunch of flying goo stuff all over the room. Hiram ended up with bubbling skin and I sent three other students to the hospital wing because of minor burns! Colin has been mocking me about that all day and won't just let it go! I've been feeling sick to my stomach all day long and feel like I'm going to throw up, but Madame Pomfrey said that she can't do anything about it unless she knows more about how I'm feeling. Then of course it's also really hard to do about anything with a broken arm and elbow, but she won't heal that either, she says it will just take a little time to heal. A little time my ass," Ginny spat out. "You probably think I'm just a stupid angry witch right now, don't you?" Ginny said, her head sinking down into her hands.  
  
"Not at all," Harry answered. "Keep going."  
  
"Okay," she said, a little bit surprised. "Well, my social life is about as low as it could possibly go. I have absolutely no friends whatsoever."  
  
"That's not true," Harry interrupted, "and you know it. What about Hermione? What about Colin? Heck, what about me? I'd like to think of us as friends," he said, his voice slightly offended.  
  
Ginny groaned a little. "That's not what I mean. But anyways, I'm like the laughing stock of the entire school. It's all around the school, I'm just a complete klutz and a total loser," she sighed.  
  
"How do you get that idea?" Harry asked slightly confused.  
  
"Oh come on, don't tell me you didn't hear about how I fell down the stairs this morning, knocking over like ten other students." Harry still had a look on confusion on his face. Apparently he hadn't heard about that. Ginny blushed, slightly embarrassed. "What about my exploding Quill during transfiguration?" she asked.  
  
"Ginny, it was just bad luck that you picked up one of your brothers' prank quills, it happens to us all the time. Last week I had one that set Snape on fire in the middle of potions. That was pretty funny though but it lost Gryffindor a hundred points!"  
  
"Okay so maybe that wasn't my fault. But don't tell me you didn't see me fall asleep in my soup at dinner," she commented.  
  
"Ginny, that isn't anything abnormal. I've fallen asleep into my food plenty of times," he assured her. "And about falling down the stairs, you should know that's not a big deal, people do that all the time. And I also don't think that when people see you they think 'Hey there goes the stupid klutzy girl,' in fact I believe that they would think 'Hey, there goes Ginny Weasley, the smart, kind, sweet, considerate girl, even if she is slightly shy'."  
  
Ginny blushed at his compliment. "Well there are other things." she began, but most of the other klutzy things seemed to have suddenly vanished from her mind. "Well," she stuttered out. "Well Harry, why do you always have to make me so happy when I'm so depressed?" she stubbornly asked with an angry tone. "What right do you have to come over here and make all my terrible problems seem insignificant?" she grumbled. Harry laughed again.  
  
"Sometimes it just helps to talk," he shrugged.  
  
"That's the thing, I have no one to talk to," she muttered softly. Harry shot her a look. "Well other than you Harry. But really, it seems like suddenly no one has time for me. My brothers, well Fred and George have never really been much help, Ron is too busy flirting with Hermione and everyone else is off in some foreign country or working in the ministry so I never get to talk to them. Even Colin Creevy doesn't have time to me now that he's gone and fallen in love with some Ravenclaw girl. I hope that he rots in hell."  
  
"Aw Ginny play nice now," Harry laughed.  
  
Ginny sighed despairingly. "I was beginning to think that everyone had forgotten I even existed until you came over. Actually when I saw you I was worried that it was just going to lead to another bad thing if you came over here, but it turns out that this has been the best thing all week. Heck, all month. I'm glad we are friends Harry. Thank you."  
  
Harry smiled, and then stood up. "Any time you need to talk, you know where I am," he said, and then gave her a small hug before heading upstairs. 


	2. Chapter 2

For the first time in a while, Ginny's near future had a slight bit of hope in it. At least if anything else, things couldn't get worse. Her little talk with Harry had definitely brightened her day and had helped renew her cheery attitude. True she still had to make up for the weeks that she had spent slacking off and drowning in her own depression, but she was going to try her best.  
  
She had studied all night after Harry had left, and though this had caused her to fall asleep at breakfast again, she had surprised everyone by pulling a perfect grade on her herbology test. She had also caught up on her transfigurations, this time making sure that she only brought her own quills and wands so that she wouldn't wind up with anymore of her brothers' pranks ruining her day.  
  
In fact, her week had been going extremely well until Friday, when she had run straight into Draco Malfoy. "Watch where you are going!" he exclaimed, then looked down to see it was Ginny. "Well, if it isn't the littlest weasel brat." A group of nearby Slytherins laughed at this terribly overused joke and Ginny quickly began to gather up a few books she had dropped. Draco laughed and kicked the books out of her hands. "Oops, didn't see you there Weasley, you blend right in with the dirt."  
  
Ginny's face flamed angrily, but she chose to ignore him instead and began to pick up her books again, this time turning away so he couldn't kick it out of her hands. "What's the matter Weasley? Can't come up with a comeback, or are you just too good for a little battle of minds? You Weasleys really are lower classed." Ginny almost laughed at how pathetic his insults were, but knew that it wouldn't get her anywhere. She stood up again and looked him straight in the eye, then began to walk away. Draco glared at her, and then stuck out his foot, making her fall again. "Have a nice trip weasel, see you next fall." This again made the dimwitted Slytherins laugh again, but now it wasn't Ginny who stood up to meet Draco.  
  
"Knock it off Draco," Harry Potter said firmly, standing right in front of Draco.  
  
"Why if it isn't Harry Potter, come to the rescue of miss weasel in distress," this drew another laugh from the group.  
  
"Oh wow Draco, I'm just amazed by your wit. You are going to make me cry," Harry mocked Draco with a snobby drawl. "If you spent as much time practicing your flying skills as you did your wit, your Quidditch skills might even match that of Liam Drayson," Harry scoffed. Liam Drayson was a first year Slytherin who has already managed to break three windows, two statues and knocked four of his own teammates of their brooms during tryouts. "Of course, even that might be difficult for you."  
  
"Yes, Potter, well at least I don't have to stick up for lower class dirt like Ginny Weasley," Draco retorted.  
  
"Ooh clever, I can feel the arrow in my heart. I'm wounded," Harry clutched his chest, mocking pain. Apparently now there were other groups of people other than Slytherins, because there was a roar of laughter in the hallway, and the admiring first year Slytherins were slinking out of sight. Harry turned around and offered his hand to Ginny, who stood up next to him and brushed some dirt off her robes. "Now before you cause either of us any more pain, I shall retreat like a coward," he ridiculed Draco, and turned around to walk with Ginny.  
  
"Oh yeah Potter?" Draco called after him. "Well, well." Draco stuttered angrily a little, "well at least I don't have to hang out with mudbloods like Granger!" he called.  
  
Then the shrill voice of the head of Gryffindor house came from behind Draco. "Mr. Malfoy! I would watch your tongue if I were you. Such filthy language towards a fellow classmate should earn you a detention. And fifty points from Slytherin!" Harry and Ginny laughed to themselves as they headed away.  
  
"Thanks for sticking up for me back there," Ginny said quietly, still slightly embarrassed from the scene.  
  
"I don't know where that idiot gets his delusions," said Harry. "Or his insults for that matter." Ginny laughed again. "So how have things been going today, aside from that?" Harry asked kindly.  
  
"Well actually I think that that right there really was the highlight of my day, thanks to you Harry. But other than that, things have been going pretty well." Ginny proceeded to tell him all about how she had received perfect marks on her Herbology exam and how she had been the only one in her class able to transfigure a piece of paper into a lizard, even though it was white and ended up giving her a paper cut when it stuck its tongue out at her. Suddenly Harry stopped. "What's wrong Harry?"  
  
"Oh I'm so sorry Gin, it's just that I just remembered that I was supposed to meet with Hagrid to help him feed some of the creatures," he said disappointedly. A wide smile spread across Harry's face. "Then again, we could use some help, would you like to come?"  
  
Ginny smiled happily. "I would love to Harry." She took his hand and they walked together to Hagrid's hut. 


	3. Chapter 3

"Alright you two, here's what ya got ta do," said Hagrid, pulling out a couple of large colored cans. "The blue cans are for the yellow and orange fwoopers, put a few pebbles in each their bowls, the reds are for the pink and green fwoopers, dump a whole can in theirs, the black cans are for the Jarveys, give 'em about a half a can and fill up their water dishes, the green are for the kneazles, but ya only wanna give 'em a few scoops or they'll be howlin for hours, it upsets their stomachs. When you're done, come outside and we'll deal with the bigger animals together."  
  
"Um, Hagrid, could you say that again?" asked Ginny, who had almost no idea what any of the creatures Hagrid has just named were. "And could you kind of, uh, point out what exactly they are? Maybe write it down too?"  
  
Hagrid sighed with a wounded tone. "Well, I suppose I was a bit quick to assume that you'd been paying attention to everything I'd taught in class. Well, there are little labels on each of their caves, if they have a little blue marking, give 'em a blue can with the amount it says, same with the other colors. I'll be outside tending to that injured Kelpie I found the other week, just give me a call if anything goes wrong." Hagrid stepped outside and closed the door. Moments later, Harry and Ginny could hear a splash and a small scream. "Now Leotard, lets be a good animal and let mummy tend to your wounds," Hagrid said as if talking to a small child. Harry and Ginny could not restrain their laughter.  
  
Ginny walked up to the first cage containing a large orange colored-bird. Below the bird on the cage was a label, scribbled in Hagrid's handwriting reading "Fwupar, tin pebbles".  
  
Ginny smiled and gave a short laugh, then took poured ten pebbles into the fwooper's bowl. "Well Harry are you just going to stand there or are you actually going to do something?"  
  
"Oh, sorry, just kind of dozed off for a moment there, didn't I?" Ginny giggled, and then tossed Harry a black can from out of the cabinet. "Which ones do I feed these to?" he asked, rolling the can back in forth in his hand.  
  
"The one with the black label you idiot," she snorted, then poured out some more pebbles into another bowl.  
  
"Oh, right," Harry said sheepishly. Harry traced his finger along the bottom of the cages, carefully examining each color until he came across a black slip, with nice neat handwriting. "What do you want to bet that Hermione wrote this label," Harry laughed to himself. "Jarveys, one half a black can, fill up water dish." Harry looked up and saw the Jarvey, a long weasel like creature who was furiously gnawing away at a piece of wood in its cage.  
  
He's so handsome, Ginny thought to herself as Harry accidentally spilled water onto the floor. Harry blushed at his clumsiness and looked over at Ginny. Oh my God, is he actually blushing? He is so adorable when he does that. NO Ginny! No, bad girl! He's just your friend, you've blocked that part of your mind out, remember? You are just friends.  
  
"Hey, Ginny, hello?" Ginny shook herself out of her mind's conversation and realized that he had been calling her name repeatedly and now both of them were blushing. "Can you toss me that cloth on the table next to you?" Harry tried not to laugh.  
  
A mysterious grin spread across Ginny' face. She snatched up the cloth and dunked it in a bucket of water, then tossed it at Harry, smacking him in the chest. "There you go," she said, trying to sound sassy.  
  
"Miss Weasley, I do believe you are going to regret that," Harry replied, sending the wet cloth back in Ginny's direction. The cloth hit Ginny in the face, sending water rushing down her robes. But before Harry had even laughed, Ginny was back in action, grabbing the bucket and splashing him with the water. "Oh no you didn't." Harry splashed her robes with the can of water he had been using and the two refilled their cups and continued their water fight.  
  
Finally it was Ginny who caved in. "Okay, okay!" she exclaimed. "You win!" She raised her hands up in surrender. "Look at us now, we're all drenched!"  
  
"Now whose fault is that Miss Weasley?" he asked slyly.  
  
"Ugh, are you accusing me?" Harry nodded. "Why you little." Ginny lunged at him. Harry stepped backwards, but Ginny had jumped with enough force that it sent both of them tumbling across the floor. Harry grabbed her fist as she jokingly tried to punch him, and then pinned down her arms. For a moment they laughed but they both slowly realized the physical contact that they were making and how close they actually were.  
  
Ginny's heart had begun to pound on overload and was torn between emotions of pleasure and despair. One part of her was begging for the moment to never end, while another was desperately begging that it had never happened, that she wouldn't be given even an inking of pleasure so that she would not be tormented just by the fact that it had been an accident and that they were, after all, just friends.  
  
Harry's mind was racing much along the same lines. He had never been in a situation like this, except for with Hermione, but that wasn't the same because they were just friends. But wasn't Ginny just his friend? He had said something along those lines not long ago. Why was it any different? Why was touching her so different? Why was he frozen speechless as his hand rested on her arm?  
  
And most of all, why did he suddenly have the urge to kiss her?  
  
But now was not the time to wonder about his feelings for Ginny Weasley for good or ill, now was the time to act. Ginny's hands were now trembling and her eyes were filled with a look of confused panic. Harry carefully stood up, then offered his hand to Ginny and she sadly accepted it. "Ginny I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."  
  
Harry was interrupted as the door flung open and Hagrid stood armed with a crossbow. "All right you devils. oh, it's just you two. I heard some sounds and got suspicious. Can't be too careful you know. And you two, yer all soaked!" Hagrid realized. "What happened?" Harry and Ginny looked guiltily at each other, then back to Hagrid, unsure of what to say. "Oh," muttered Hagrid. 


	4. Chapter 4

After the incident at Hagrid's, Harry had walked Ginny back to Gryffindor Tower, to the giggles of a few female schoolmates as they left a trail of water in their footsteps. They had gone their separate ways when they reached the tower though, so that they could change into a drier set of clothes.  
  
When Ginny reached her room, she angrily threw down her robes, sending water splattering all over the floor and onto some of the beds. "Why me?" Ginny screamed. She grabbed a yellow t-shirt and black pants hanging out of her trunk and yanked it onto herself. Exhaustedly, she collapsed onto her bed where she began to try and remember how she had felt with Harry on top of her.  
  
"Stupid, stupid, stupid Ginny," she muttered to herself. "It's your own bloody fault you know. You shouldn't have tried to tackle him. You should've known that it would end up badly. You shouldn't have even thrown that wet rag at him. You were blatantly, clearly and shamelessly flirting with him. Remember you decided not to do that anymore? But wouldn't that mean he was flirting with me too? And it did seem like he was getting rather close to me. I mean, we were almost kissing! But then again, friends flirt all the time. Harry flirts with Hermione but we all know that neither of them fancies each other." Ginny sighed disgustedly to herself. She was talking to herself, a bad habit since her roommates seemed to always overhear everything she said to herself, which either resulted in gossip or public embarrassment, which in this case was the last thing she needed. She didn't need to resurrect her childish crush on Harry.  
  
Ginny sat up and looked around the room and was fortunate to find that none of her roommates had been in the room during her momentary monologue. Ginny opened up her trunk and reached to the very bottom of it, then pulled out a small teddy bear. It wasn't the best teddy bear in the world. In fact it was rather beat up and looked like it had been handed down since the beginning of time, but nevertheless, it was Ginny's favorite. Harry had given the bear to her as a present in her second year, although it was rather unlikely that he remembered he had given her a present at all. Still, Ginny absolutely loved this little bear.  
  
Ginny laid down on her bed and cuddled the bear up against her face. Ginny knew it was a very childish thing to do, but any time she needed to be comforted, she would take out the bear and hug it. Right now she definitely needed to be comforted. "Oh Mr. Bear I don't know what to do," she lamented. Ginny stared into the bear's green eyes, slowly stroking its back. "You think I should go downstairs, don't you?" She pushed the bear's head with her finger, making it nod up and down. "Well, I do suppose that I should be downstairs with my friends instead of up her crying like a baby," she considered. The bear nodded its head again. "Alright, alright, I'll go. Now stay in your spot and be good," she said, placing her bear back in the bottom of her trunk.  
  
When Ginny went down the stairs to the common room however, Harry was nowhere to be found. Hermione and Ron were angrily looking away from each other, no doubt another of their flirtatious arguments. Ginny had never quite understood what pleasure could be gained from their arguments, but it was none of her concern. "Hey, have either of you seen Harry?" she asked.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry Ginny, Harry just got an urgent message from Dumbledore, he was called to a meeting," Hermione informed her. Ginny's disappointment was evident on her face. "He had to rush out in a hurry, but he made sure to tell me to give you this note." Hermione handed Ginny a folded piece of paper stuffed inside the envelope. "What's it say?" Hermione asked anxiously as Ginny began to unfold the paper.  
  
"Stop being nosy Hermione," Ron snorted. "If Harry had wanted you to know he would have told you instead of writing out a note." Hermione whipped her head around and shot him a glare. "I'm so scared Hermione, that glare is just frightful." Ron made a mock shiver. "Or maybe it's just your."  
  
"Shut it Ron," Ginny snapped, ready to cut off the offensive comment Ron was about to make. "What is it you two are flirting, oops, I mean fighting, about this time?" Ginny refolded the note, deciding to read it alone instead of in front of her friends.  
  
"Well, Ron here thought it would be funny to replace my Potions book with Quidditch: A Great Sport." Hermione continued to stare at Ron and he shrugged sheepishly. "Really Ron, I don't see where you come up with these foolish pranks. At least your brothers are creative, even if it causes a little damage." Ron bit his lip at once again being compared to his brothers. "And this stuff about my lack of Quidditch skills has gotten beyond old. Really, it's not funny to anyone at all, it's just stupid." Hermione turned back to Ginny. "So that's what we are fighting about. Actually it's more like Ron being a stupid git, refusing to apologize and swearing that it wasn't his fault. He says that he didn't mean to. Yeah, right," she snorted.  
  
"Hermione, that's what I've been trying to tell you," Ron began.  
  
"I don't want to hear your excuses, your lies," she snapped up a finger to silence him. "Don't even try. Why can't you just admit that you are wrong for once instead of continually denying it?"  
  
Ron moved forward, then swung his hand up, covering her mouth. "Hermione, please, just listen to me for one moment, that's all I ask," he begged. "It really was a mistake, I'm not lying to you!" Hermione struggled under his hand, and then pulled free.  
  
She swung up her own hand, slapping him across the face. "Don't you ever, ever touch me again!" she fumed. "You just don't know when enough is enough, do you Ron?" She spun around and walked straight past Ginny and then up the stairs to her room. Ron stood still with shock, not quite believing what had happened.  
  
"Well that was smooth Ron," Ginny commented.  
  
"Shove off Gin," he said gruffly, falling onto the couch.  
  
Ginny mocked being offended. "That's no way to treat your sister, I'm only trying to help. Now could you tell me your side of the story brother of mine?" Ron rolled his eyes at her, and then stared at the fireplace. "It couldn't really hurt, now could it?" Ginny asked, not realizing how similar she sounded to Harry. "So what is this excuse of yours?" she asked, collapsing down next to him.  
  
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he grumbled.  
  
"Trust me Ron, I've heard enough lies and tall tales from you, Fred, George, Percy, Bill and Charlie combined to know when someone is lying or making up a story 'I promise mom, I didn't set the couch on fire' and 'Really mom, she and I didn't do anything at all'. Yeah, I think I know when one of my brothers is lying."  
  
Ron managed a laugh. "Okay, I'll tell you. We were in the library earlier today and Hermione had gone to check out some book about some random book about some famous witch, you know how she is." Ginny nodded for him to continue. "Well, I borrowed her book from her because she takes really good notes and I hadn't studied very much." This was not the entire truth. He had also borrowed it because Hermione's wonderful smell was still strongly implanted on the book and he enjoyed reading her perfect handwriting and her reminders and conversations with herself in her margins. Of course, he wasn't about to reveal this information to Ginny. It was too much information for blackmail. "But when she came back, I closed her book and accidentally slipped the Quidditch book into her bag instead of her potions book. As soon as I realized my mistake, she was gone. I tried to get the book to her during class but Snape kept yelling at me. So that's what happened." Ron slumped back against the couch.  
  
"Wow, I actually thought you were just going to lie to me, I never thought that you might actually be telling the truth!" Ginny said, quite impressed. Ron shrugged. "Well, mostly the truth at least." Ron glanced nervously over at her. "Tell me Ron, why did you feel the need to hide Hermione's book in her bag and not tell her you were smelling, sorry, I mean studying with it?" she smiled knowingly. "But don't worry Ron, your secret is safe with me. I'm your sister, you can trust me."  
  
"Not that it does me any good, Hermione still hates my guts. I really shouldn't have overreacted like that, I should have stayed calm. She was just beginning to annoy me, I wanted her to believe me really badly. God, I'm such an idiot."  
  
"You're right there," Ginny nodded. "But not a hopeless idiot. Just hopelessly in love. I'm sure that Hermione will listen to me, I think that she was just a little fed up and didn't want to admit that she might be wrong herself, at least in your presence. I'll go talk to her, alright?"  
  
"Thanks a lot Gin. I'm glad that we aren't always the fighting brother and sister, that sometimes we can help each other out." Ron gave her a little hug. "Thanks."  
  
"Well, sometimes it just helps to talk." 


End file.
